Chuck Pagano declares Donald Brown to be an every-down back

Even though the Colts signed former Steelers third-down back Mewelde Moore on Tuesday, they may not use him much, if coach Chuck Pagano gets his way.

In Pagano’s mind, Donald Brown won’t be leaving the field in obvious passing situations.

“Donald is an every-down back,” Pagano said, according to Phil Richards of the Indianapolis Star. “He is doing a tremendous job and he is having a fantastic offseason. He understands, especially on third down as far as protections go and all of those things. Nothing is going to be more important than protections.”

After missing nine games during his first two years in the league, the 2009 first-rounder from Connecticut played in every game last season, with two starts. He parlayed only 134 carries into 645 yards, an average of 4.8 yards per attempt.

And so the real question is whether he’ll hold up as he’s doing the things that every-down running backs do, on every down.

“You just don’t want to wear somebody out,” Pagano said. “You’ve got a bell cow [in Brown], so to speak, and a lot of teams have a third-down guy. So if we can keep guys fresh, and guys are able to go out and execute the offense, then we will use them for sure.”

It’d be interesting to know whether Moore knew what his role would be when he signed up, or whether he was under the impression that he had a shot at being the third-down back.

The good news for Moore may be that, if/when Brown gets hurt, Moore could have a chance at becoming an every-down back, too.

5 responses to “Chuck Pagano declares Donald Brown to be an every-down back”

I hope the Colts don’t win a game this year. That way we can get the number 1 pick and draft Matt Barkley thus enabling us to realize my ultimate goal… going back to the Wishbone Offense but with two QB’s in the backfield. It can’t fail. 😉